The Bowes Cup, by Jacob Bodendick, 1675-6
The Bowes cup, mark of Jacob Bodendick, London, 1675-6. Museum no. 63-1993
The Bowes cup was probably a race prize. As early as 1607 gold was offered as prizes and in the 1640s the City of Salisbury owned a pair of gold spurs, given as a race prize by the Earl of Pembroke. In 1695 Sir William Bowes, a Northern magnate and successful breeder of race horses, proposed to the Bishop of Durham that money be raised to buy trophies and plate to be raced for on Durham Moor. A cup of gold with the Bowes arms and crest would have been a lavish but appropriate prize, perhaps won at a race meeting in County Durham.
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